Guyana yet to uplift DNA results from Trinidad and Tobago
— Crime Chief Leslie James

CRIME Chief, Leslie James has reported that the samples taken from the skeletal remains of an unidentified female found on June 3 at Pattensen, Greater Georgetown and sent to Trinidad and Tobago for DNA testing was expected in Guyana for weeks.

There have been some challenges in getting the result here, but James is optimistic that it would reach Guyana shortly, since arrangements are being made.

The samples were dispatched to the twin-island republic to determine whether the remains discovered were those of missing schoolteacher, Nyozi Goodman, who had disappeared after a basketball game at the Sports Stadium on Mandela Avenue.

James added that the samples had been dispatched several weeks ago, and the police are awaiting the results to determine the way forward and even to bring closure to relatives.

At the scene at Pattensen, a belt belonging to Goodman had been found near the skeletal remains on July 24, and that belt was identified by her mother.

Goodman, 34, a teacher of William Street, Kitty, failed to return home after she had accompanied a group of students for the Inter-Secondary Schools Basketball Championship in the city on June 3. She had sent her students ahead while informing them that she would be picked up by a friend, and has never again been seen alive.

It turned out that ‘the friend’ did indeed arrive, but persons have not been able to ascertain who the individual was. However, others who had seen the woman in the company of the man on the night of her disappearance shared the information with sleuths, and a man had been arrested for questioning. He, however, had a solid alibi, which caused him to be released from police custody.

After the remains were discovered, he was re-arrested, but was again released due to the lack of evidence, since the 72-hour holding period had expired.

A post-mortem conducted by Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh on the remains of a so far unidentified female found aback of Turkeyen in a bushy area on July 28 gave the cause of death as incised wounds to the abdomen.

(By Michel Outridge)